Joni Ernst focused on primary in final Iowa debate

Joni Ernst is the strong front-runner in next week’s Iowa Republican Senate primary, but neither that nor a looming general election stopped her from staking out positions to the right of her main rival on a host of hot-button issues in their final debate Thursday night.

The state senator said she would have voted against the farm bill, named the Clean Water Act as one of the most damaging laws for business and embraced private accounts for young workers paying into Social Security.

Text Size

-

+

reset

During the 90-minute debate, broadcast in prime time on Des Moines television, Ernst said she would vote for a federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage if it came up, spoke out against “amnesty” in immigration reform and suggested that the federal government should not set a minimum wage.

Ernst is trying to shore up base support ahead of a low-turnout election, but several positions that she espoused on Thursday night could backfire in a purple state like Iowa. If she cannot win with more than 35 percent in the primary on Tuesday, then about 2,000 party activists will pick the nominee at a state convention.

There were five candidates on stage, but Ernst’s main rival is Mark Jacobs, the former CEO of Reliant Energy, who has invested more than $3 million of his own money. He has lost momentum as national groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Senate Conservatives Fund, along with an eclectic mix of national figures from Sarah Palin to Mitt Romney to Marco Rubio, coalesced behind Ernst.

But Jacobs, who trails by double digits in recent polling, behaved as if he were the front-runner, skipping several opportunities to attack Ernst as he has in previous debates. He also avoided throwing the red meat that everyone else did — including Ernst, radio talk show host Sam Clovis, former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker and activist Scott Schaben.

Jacobs seemed to make a hard play for establishment-minded voters. He called himself a “strong supporter” of the farm bill, noting that this helped earn the endorsement of the state agriculture secretary. Ernst responded by noting that Chuck Grassley, the popular Iowa Republican senator, opposed the final bill, too.

On gay marriage, Ernst at first said she believes gay marriage is “a state issue,” noting that she co-sponsored a bill in the Iowa Senate to amend the state constitution. Then she volunteered that she would vote a federal amendment if it came up. Both Whitaker and Clovis back a constitutional amendment.

Jacobs said same-sex marriage should be left to the states. “I don’t think we need the federal government involved,” he said.

All of the candidates opposed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, on which Democratic candidate Bruce Braley is campaigning. But Jacobs kept the door open, saying he agrees with Grassley that a higher minimum wage is “something we can look at.”

Ernst went the other way. “I don’t believe this is a federal issue,” she said. “Every different state has a different cost of living. … So I believe this is more of a state’s issue.”

The moderator responded by noting that Ernst also just voted against a minimum wage hike in the state Senate. “I did oppose it,” she confirmed.

Still, Ernst was not the most conservative candidate on stage. She said she philosophically opposes taxpayer subsidies but that she “stands in defense” of the renewable fuel standard because other industries get subsidized, too. She said she would be willing to get rid of that subsidy only if all other government subsidies went away first.

Trying to differentiate herself from the pack, Ernst noted that she is a mother, solider, the only candidate from a rural area and the only one who has served in a legislative body.

While Jacobs did not attack directly, he implicitly referred to her as a career politician. “We’re not going to fix Washington by sending another career politician who is backed by the special interests,” he said.

Jacobs argued that he is the most electable candidate because he would offer the clearest contrast to Braley, a congressman and former trial lawyer.

The debate showcased the degree to which the Republican Party has shifted on foreign policy over the past decade.

Jacobs called U.S. intervention in both Iraq and Afghanistan “a mistake in hindsight.” Whitaker said “We should not have gone into Iraq.” Clovis criticized Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for being overly willing to use force.

Ernst, who served as a company commander in Iraq, declined to say whether the U.S. should have gone in there on the grounds that taking a position would dishonor those who died there. “Afghanistan, I do think that was justified,” she said.

Asked about the recent massacre in California in the context of a campaign commercial that shows her shooting a handgun, Ernst touted the support she’s receiving from the National Rifle Association.

“Just because of a horrible, horrible tragedy, I don’t believe we should be infringing upon people’s Second Amendment rights,” she said, referring to the Santa Barbara shooting as an “unfortunate accident.”

As critics on the internet seized on her use of the term “accident,” the Ernst campaign stressed Ernst also called it a “tragedy” earlier in the answer.

“As she said when she first answered the question, Joni believes that this was a terrible tragedy,” said spokesman Derek Flowers, who accused Democrats of “playing gotcha politics.”

On immigration, Ernst said that she wants to secure the border and enforce the laws on the books.